Last year, NASA announced that it was the hottest on record, making it the second consecutive year where global temperatures have broken records.
According to the agency’s analysis, 2024 was the warmest year since at least 1880, surpassing the previous record set in 2023.
These back-to-back records are indicative of a continuous warming trend that climate scientists have been warning about and that many climate models have predicted.
“Once again, we have broken a temperature record. 2024 was the hottest year since records began in 1880,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. stated in a statement. “With record temperatures and wildfires threatening our centers and employees in California, it is more crucial than ever to understand the changes happening on our planet.”
NASA scientists estimate that Earth’s temperature in 2024 was about 2.65 degrees Celsius (1.47 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-19th century average (from 1850 to 1900).
Following a year of extreme events, this new record comes as no surprise. From June 2023 to August 2024, Earth set monthly temperature records for 15 consecutive months. NASA scientists referred to this trend as an “unprecedented heat wave.”
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency also reviewed the data and revealed that their analysis shows 2024 as the first full year where global temperatures were 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
In the historic 2015 Paris Agreement, countries pledged to limit global warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above pre-industrial levels to mitigate the most severe impacts of climate change. .
Source: www.nbcnews.com
